Algerian police stifle small pro-democracy demonstration

Sat, 12 Mar 2011

Algiers - Police in Algeria's capital Algiers on Saturday swarmed a small pro-democracy demonstration, forcing the protesters to disperse in a by-now weekly show of force against people rooting for democratic reforms.

Hundreds of police surrounded a small group of around 200 demonstrators from the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), who assembled in the city's May 1 square to call for greater civic freedoms and institutional reform.

The CNCD is a grouping of opposition parties, trade unions and human rights groups formed in the aftermath of anti-government riots in January that left at least five dead and hundreds injured.

Since February 12, it has staged weekly demonstrations, which usually fail to muster more than a few hundred people but are systematically thwarted by police.

Meanwhile, a group of young Algerians have launched a call through Facebook for a large demonstration in Algiers on March 19.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/371414,stifle-small-pro-democracy-demonstration.html.